Final Zentangle Lampwork Beads

Cleaned and ready to go
Did another 7 tonight after I painted some bisque pieces .  Wont see those till tomorrow night - Screened another couple of sheets so I'll cut them up and fire tomorrow - not sure if I'll just fuse or do further lampwork.

Fresh Bisque out of the kiln

Fresh out of the kiln an assortment 
Painting tonight and into the kiln again to finish 


Butterflies

leavespendants

snowflakes

Zentangle Beads - Black & White

The clear glass that I screened with my zentangle pattern, dried, cut into smaller pieces and fired are applied to hot bead gather that I make when lampworking.  This gives me the black and white beads I want . Yes I will do a step by step once the show is over - possibly a video so that you can see the application to the bead.
Sorry fresh out of the kiln still with mandrels and bead release - once I have them cleaned up I'll do photos

More Ceramics out of the Kiln - Fish, Bracelets, Faces and Horse

I loaded it up this morning and finally it has cooled down enough to take out my pieces

The Bracelets in the Pistachio are nice

Some more fish
Amphora Horse Head

Amphora Faces 

Ceramic Blanks - putting Transparecy's onto Ceramic Blanks with Resin

Fired some Amphora faces and some large blanks yesterday and filled it with fish and other items today
I really like the lowfire Spectrum  glazes - Pistachio and Purple Haze


The big blanks were so I can put transparencies in and cover with epoxy- They are glazed so they are sealed



Glued Zentangle Transparency to Blank and driedApplied Just Resin to bezel but also dragged it to edges to give a full cover cap .

Silk Screening Images on Flat Glass

So I am still not getting caught up.
Tuesday night was pottery class - my stuff is in the kiln so still no pics
I screened my zentangles onto glass on Sunday and I need to cut and fire but tonight is get the hatter costume to my granddaughter for fitting and start a white rabbit costume with my daughter for the other granddaughter.  I NEED TO WORK ON GLASS FOR MY SHOW !

So I will do a step by step on how to screen on glass after the show but here are some images of the screened glass pieces.  I can fire it as one piece and cut or cut and fire smaller pieces (may get messy if not dry)  I found my screening ink (reusche black trace and screening medium (water based for easy clean up) was not thick enough and had it flatten out - good part is it just washes off if you mess up.  you don't waste any glass - and I don't use much reusche black trace and screening medium ) Sorry about pics - my camera batteries are not charging and these are with iPhone.

On clear - had a bit of mishap with this one as I screened 

on Carmel Colored Glass 
on white  not perf so I washed it off 

Once I finish as I said I'll do a step by step on producing a silk screen as well as mixing the screening medium and reusche powder and the actually screening set up and firing .

Madd Hatter Hat -simple instructions on how to make a Madd Hatter Hat

So I searched the internet and found a good pattern to follow - then changed everything when I went in search of materials- I needed to finish this asap for my granddaughter and time was running out  - and we dont disapoint granddaughters!

Went to dollar store and bought a black cowboy hat
     cut off top of hat leaving about 3 inches and cut into tabs and using a towel ironed the rim flatter (most are cheapy hats and have plastic sewn on edge and it will melt if no towel.
Went to Walmart - found a nice lamp shade on sale (if you dont like pattern just cover with material)
     used bolt cutters to take out the metal cross bars - got as close as I could so no pokey metal
Took lamp shade widest part and outlined onto cardboard (or foamcore) and cut it out
Stretched my material over circle and used hot glue gun
Used hot glue gun (watch the fingers its hot ) and glued the top circle to the top of widest part of lamp shade
(Try to be neat - I am putting some cord around seam later)
once dry then put hot glue on tabs and glue to inside of the shade (go from back to front side to side till all glued)
push down on shade and circle and glue shade to hat (you can put cord here after but the sash covers)
I got some material and made sash - used glue gun to put together
got a peacock feather , make the 10/6 (burnt the edges) card and I had some actual hat pins I made years ago and finally had a use for - or make your own out of coat hangers and glue buttons on
The inside is quite large so I am putting foam on the inside - I'll cut a piece of material - glue it inside the brim - put the foam -wrap material over then glue - that should give lots of filler to it so it fits different size heads





Creative Festival was Fun

Saturday dragged myself out of bed at 5:15 and  left for the show at 5:45 - wanted to be on time for manning my friends booth as one of the main highways were closed for repairs.
I was in the Zentangle booth covering for my Friend and Certified Zentangle teacher - Susan Stortini - if you want to start to Zentangle then see Susan  (note pics from iPhone )


Was in a portion of the Metro Convention center I had never been to (south building) which was very nice but  since I never had been to the south building I left early to ensure I was on time.

What a show - now I wished I had more free time to wander around .  I did get a couple of hours at the end to see some of the booths - embroidery, Knitting, runnway fashion shows, duct tape challenges, material and sundries gallore - even a live alpaca -

If your looking to start Lampworking or working in glass Nortel Mfg (the maker of the Nortel Minor torch) has everything you need.  They had a large booth with demos of lampworking all day.  THIS IS A FIRST ! no other show in Toronto has had Lampworking classes.

Again some amazing items at the show- got my youngest  granddaughter an elmo hat and gloves. couldnt pass it up
and my other granddaughter the monkey hat and gloves (she loves monkeys)

So now that I recouped on Sunday - I unpacked my Yudo and ready to go -I do have to make a Madd Hatters Hat tonight so cant wait to get that task finished so I can jump back to getting ready for the TBS show

More Yudu

One of the best parts is that I don't have to use their screens I can still use mine by using the developing light table and the diazo photo emulsion - so nothing goes to waste  there are a number of cool videos out there outlining how to modify

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_tqiIrTMYs

and also 3rd party screens  (from same place that did the video ) that have more surface tension than the OEM screens - so once I finish booth sitting on Saturday I'll be out trying this out  - cant wait - got a lot of glass to screen - I already started the step by step with the screen set up and I'll follow through with mixing the paint and screening right through to firing - application is a step by step on its own when I apply to fused pieces or lampwork beads. So stay tuned .........

Yudu on sale at Michaels

Till tomorrow - regular 399.99 best I could see on ebay was about 150.00 delivered
Michaels has it on for 129.99 - stores in Markham and Richmond hill have stock didnt call any of the others
I picked one up and hope to play with it on Sunday .
Looks to be compact and less bulky than my current set up- cant see why it would not work and I like the small thin screens for easy storage etc... has exposure light, drying box  looks large but way easier to deal with than a metal garbage can, a spot light and a piece of glass, some foam and wieghts to hold it down.



Video of how to work with it
http://www.whatdoyudu.com/videos/default.aspx?id=3

More ceramics out of the kiln- image transfer fired

Out of the kiln tonight - my image transfer piece, some bracelets and spacers - The image transfer of my zentangle that I screened onto paper and then put on clay - once glazed will look better


Firing my Ceramic Screen Zentangle

Put my zentangle image transfer from the weekend in the kiln tonight (LATE)  so it probably wont be cool enough in the morning to take pics - I'll take them as soon as I get home and post .

Pottery Class Night - Should have taken pics of my pieces I've been working on  - a funky bird and a rather hefty mug - I'll remember next week to take pics

Craft fest is this weekend - going to help out a friend so I 'll get to actually go this year

More to follow - will be making etched pieces this weekend  and make some new screens and  make some screened glass pieces for fusing.

The TBS show is getting close and so many things I want to complete before then - times running out - I hope I can finish some beads and some other items before then.

Wash Out hoses for Silk Screening

One of the other items I find extremely useful and you will  find after you use a standard hose and keep your thumb on the opening for pressure - that these are much easier to work with.

I at least knew where to dive in and find and here are some pics of the two types I have .
One with the silver head looks like a pneumatic hose fitting and the other is all black plastic but it has a lock so you don't have to keep your thumb on the trigger.

Unfortunately with all the new style taps none of the ones in my house have the ability to attach - yet.
I use outside on the hose for now (don't have a laundry tub yet or water up at the studio - that is next years plan)

I will have to find out where I got them and how much and post - I do know it was somewhere I was getting silk screen materials from.


I am off to see what trouble I can get into - make my shopping list for slips and maybe print off some new transparencies and burn some screens this week.

Image Transfer on Clay Class - with Chris Snedden

Absolutely a great class - if you ever get a chance take this class

Learned how to use premixed coloured slips on paper and transfer them to clay
Learned how to make your own silk screen for repetitive printing

Totally enjoyed the day at Pine Tree Potters - they really know how to do a class - was great communications right from the beginning

One suggestion  I have to make the process easier is to get the clamps for the silkscreen - to more or less give you a third hand

Install them on a piece of plywood or the paint boards that you can get a curry's art supplies.( They come in a variety of sizes) You only have to buy one as all your screens just get tightened into the clamps - best to get a base board for the  largest screens you will use -.
You can c-clamp the base  to the table so it does not move and then you can concentrate on the squeegee and slip process without worrying that the frame will shift while pulling the slip with the squeegee.
when done just flip up and it will hold there till you take off your sheet - create a tape mark for placing paper  so that is easier as well - put down a new sheet and then flip back down.

You can see some of my zentangle -(the low fire clay is very dark and hard to see - but it will fire white with the black)  you screen a special slip mixture - I used black - onto plain paper. that you wet and apply to leather hard clay. (On the small tile I just cut up my sheet and placed pieces - overlapping etc ) You burnish and let dry and then peel the paper off and it leaves your image -  you can modify by adding more clay colours to your  image before you apply - much like reverse painting - the black line will always be on top after application.
Here are a couple of my zentangle samplers - the left over paper will burn off in the kiln. Will show once they dry and I fire - may be a few days - They are not the best but as my first samples they showed me some of my mistakes that I'll correct the next time - which will be soon


Catching UP

With Thanksgiving and the weather being so nice I didnt get much done in the way of new things over the holiday

Tuesday nights are my ceramic classes in Oshawa with Barbara Kimball

I glazed my ceramic blanks last night and fired. I'll get some of the pebeo  ceramic paints (can bake in oven) out to make a sampler


Going to do some etching on the weekend, some more lampwork and hopefully some enamel beads. So stay tuned for some step by steps.

Saturday all day I have a pottery class for image transfer - cant wait for that one - it sounds so exciting - exactly what I want to do.

So hopefully I have a few things to show for this week.

Just picked up a box full of glass from Nortel so that should come in handy when I get torching.

So I have not fallen off the face of the earth this week, just catching my breath to start on a run again .

OOPS to Ahhs

Well - the lampwork bead blanks may not have worked but they produced some interesting pools of glass. I'll cut and grind and come out with some interesting cabs and refire . -


I'm also making more blanks  and in particular some domes (which I put on old light bulbs)  they should be ready to fire tomorrow. Did hearts, circles and round domes. and some large flat rounds that are indented so I can put some transparencies of my zentangle in with resin.


OOOPS !

Not sure where my brain was when working this out - but I know that morretti glass melts at about 1200 F a lot lower than my fusing bullseye glass - so not sure why I thought I could go to 1538 to fuse the decal on

From                                          
To puddles......

Although the two on the left might turn out to be nice cabs -  there is a technique called pot melting that creates disks from left over glass -  this may allow me to create on the smaller scale controlled  now I wish the seperation was further and I could have ended up with some really interesting  cab melts - especially that red with black and white one

Its all about the experimentation - I'll take this as an accidental discovery . cant wait for them to cool - I'll cut them up and refuse in my kiln

Applied zentangle to bead blanks

Here are the applied sepia decals to my bead blanks (remember they go on black and come out sepia)

I'll fire them today and see how they turn out
I have to ensure that they rise slowly to fire the decal at about 1538 (I will use the paragon home kiln - I can use my little kiln but the home kiln will rise automatically and shut off when done) I wil also put the glass on rods that are prepped so they dont stick while firing  - Again - dont they look great in black - sooooooonnnn....

Glass Blanks for sepia decals

 I made some glass bead blanks so I can put some of the sepia decals on and fire today
I'll wrap the decal around the whitish part of the bead - the ones with a little striation will give some shading to the images.
Ill apply today, then fire later today so should have results tomorrow

Total Success - The Sepia Decal on Ceramic glazed worked

Yes very pleased that the overcoat worked on the ceramic pieces
Quick fire (again at the cone 013)
What can I say - cant wait till I screen the images in black on white .

Now to affix them onto my cards for the show and onto the next items.

I sat and made some glass bead blanks - they are annealing now  then  I'll put decals on tomorrow and fire
I'll need to make some new bezels with a large centre so that I can put the transparencies inside with my resin.

I bought some low fire red clay that I want to try as well.

Then there are the pnp blue zentangles for etching - hmm maybe will do that too

Just realized I just used up all my ceramic blanks - so I need to make even more this time

and I have to create some leather hard stuff for my class next Saturday - probably some tiles - easy and flat that will make putting the screened images on easier -

So much to do before Nov 5th show.  ( I procrastinated too long during the summer to make things - although I have been testing and making new items so I should be good)


And I start my clay classes with Barbara Kimbell on Tuesday night.